The majority voted against an amendment introduced by Liberal MP Andrew Southcott. This means that the amendment was rejected.

The amendment limited the application of the bill so that "Sections 19 to 21 do not apply in relation to one of the 2 smallest outer surfaces of a cigarette carton to the extent that a trade mark covers the surface."(See the text of sections 19 to 21 as they were at first reading here. ) Dr Southcott explains "The purpose of this amendment is to help small retailers".(Read Dr Southcott's full explanation here. )

One member of parliament, Nationals MP Tony Crook, rebelled and crossed the floor to vote 'aye' with the Government.(Read more about what it means to rebel in our FAQ Section. )

Background to the bill

The bill was introduced with the Trade Marks Amendment (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Bill 2011 to "[prevent] tobacco advertising and promotion of tobacco products and tobacco product packaging by making it an offence to sell, supply, purchase, package or manufacture tobacco products or packaging for retail sale that are not compliant with plain packaging requirements."(Read more about the bill, including its explanatory memorandum and bills digest, here. ) If these two bills succeed, Australia will be the first country in the world to introduce plain packaging.(Read more about plain packaging here, and more about the government's reasons for introducing the bills here.)

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a second time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through here. ) This means that the majority agree with the main idea of the bill.

One member of parliament, Nationals MP Tony Crook, rebelled and crossed the floor to vote 'aye' with the Government.(Read more about what it means to rebel in our FAQ Section. )

Background to the bill

The bill was introduced with the Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011 to amend the Trade Marks Act 1995(Read more about trade mark law in Australia here. ) to ensure "that regulations may be made in relation to the plain packaging of tobacco so that businesses are not prevented from registering new trade marks or from protecting trade marks against infringement".(Read more about the bill, including its explanatory memorandum and bills digest, here. ) If these two bills succeed, Australia will be the first country in the world to introduce plain packaging.(Read more about plain packaging here, and more about the government's reasons for introducing the bills here.)

References

No

Yes (strong)

Passed by a small majority

How
"voted very strongly against"
is worked out

The MP's votes count towards a weighted average where the most important votes get
50 points,
less important votes get
10 points,
and less important votes for which the MP was absent get
2 points.
In important votes the MP gets awarded the full
50 points
for voting the same as the policy,
0 points
for voting against the policy, and
25 points
for not voting. In less important votes, the MP gets
10 points
for voting with the policy,
0 points
for voting against, and
1
(out of 2)
if absent.

Then, the number gets converted to a simple english language phrase based on the range of values it's within.

No of votes

Points

Out of

Most important votes (50 points)

MP voted with policy

0

0

0

MP voted against policy

1

0

50

MP absent

0

0

0

Less important votes (10 points)

MP voted with policy

0

0

0

MP voted against policy

1

0

10

Less important absentees (2 points)

MP absent*

0

0

0

Total:

0

60

*Pressure of other work means MPs or
Senators are not always available to vote – it does not always
indicate they have abstained. Therefore, being absent on a less
important vote makes a disproportionatly small
difference.